The NHS will use agency staff in “a more judicial way”, the director general of workforce at the Department of Health has told the NHS Employers annual conference in Birmingham.

Responding to a question about newspaper reports that a hospital in Devon paid an agency  £115.65 an hour to supply a paediatric nurse, Clare Chapman said that while agency staff “were critical “ and “most Trusts" were making progress in using agencies in a productive way, more needed to be done.

Chapman suggested that the NHS should place more emphasis on talent spotting. 

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